Yeah, you're right. I posted because it gets kind of solitary when you're learning to trade. Also, I know the kind of journey I'm going on is one many people have made before me, so it seems kind of logical to try and draw on this pool of knowledge to try and narrow things down a little. The problem for a dedicated beginner like me is there is too much material to read and study, so if you can knock out a few blind alley ways by getting advice then that would seem like a good thing to do.
But you are right; on a forum you don't know if the advice is any good. But then it's the same for the gurus, the web sites and the books...
Which brings us back by a circuitous route to the beginning; do everything yourself until it works for you. Just kind of makes it a solitary journey!
- that was cathartic. Back to the 3 ducks - I think it's a step in the right direction for me.
Best
For sure it's difficult to know who to trust, I can give you a few pointers.
1) Anyone posting that is not trading full time and making their income entirely from trading should be regarded with healthy scepticism. Just ask them.
2) Anyone who is selling anything particularly anything expensive is almost certainly making their main income from selling not trading. Caveat, a few pro's who genuinely like to help others do sometimes charge a little to cover their own costs, these are usually good deals, particularly for new traders.
3) Most retail traders use bucket shop brokers, you are not trading the real forex market you are trading a copy of it relayed to you from the real market, your trades do not affect the market you are seeing, so the idea that a lot retail traders doing the same thing can affect prices is a myth, you cannot affect the real market. Caveat, successful retail traders are treated differently by the broker who will offset liability in the real forex market in much the same way as a bookmaker "lays off" larger bets. You should regard your trades as the same as having a bet with a bookmaker.
4) Your broker is NOT your friend he is your deadly enemy, his objective is to wipe out your account in the shortest time possible, anything he offers you that will "help" you is almost certainly designed to do the opposite.
5) Trading is a skill much like driving a car, before you learned to drive did you, go on the internet and read every manual on how to drive? or ask every other driver you know how they do it? no of course not, nobody can tell you or show you how to drive, you have to get in the car and actually do it yourself, at first your co-ordination was all over the place, trying to steer, press the clutch, change gear....etc etc, all at the same time, but now you can probably drive entirely on autopilot (passing control to your subconscious) while you conscious attention is elsewhere. So don't expect to be a brilliant trader from the off, it aint going to happen, practice...practice...practice. But make sure that if you have an instructor he is not incompetent (losing trader)
